When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell the difference between the two.
Then WordPress came along and everything changed. Now, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to tell if the website was built using “blogging” tools like WordPress, or if it’s been developed using a traditional website building software application. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of website design and also being able to tell what kind of web application is actually powering the site.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For many website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System tool like WordPress and other website-building software is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, regarding the things that many website owners are deeply concerned with, such as web development costs, ease of use, ability to keep the website up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the options below would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking website, but at a much cheaper cost than the cost of getting site ”A” built.
If you selected website ”B” above, then you need to know more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can give you an eye-catching website that will normally turn out to be much less expensive to build than websites which use a web development tool … and how to tell these apart!
WordPress is the world’s most used online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly CMS platform that is ideally suited for small, medium and even large businesses.
Whether your reason for having a web site is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no web design skills to use, and offers many helpful functions that make your web presence highly effective in terms of getting your content published and indexed by search engines, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, scalability, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your site could also be powered by WordPress.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are considering getting one built, then wouldn’t it be great to show your web developer an existing website with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get a similar site built for your business for a much smaller cost?
Was My Website Built With WordPress? Tell-Tale Signs & WP-Checking Tools
Do you need to know if a website uses WordPress? Maybe you’ve come here because you’ve heard or read about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site was built using WordPress, or some other content management system.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are some simple ways to tell if sites are powered WordPress:
View The Source Code
If you know how to bring up the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for a tell-tale footprint that the site was built with WordPress …
(View the page source code in Firefox)
Suppose that you are surfing the web and you come across a web site that you like, and you wonder if the site is built on WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the source code, you can search for “wp-content” either by scanning the code visually …
Or using the browser’s “Find” function …
(Using Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site is powered by WordPress or not.
Note: If you do not see “wp-content” within the source code, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are not looking at a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site was built using WordPress, as we will soon see.
As the focus of this article is to try and help non-technical users, however, below you will find a number of easier ways to check if your website is built with WordPress other than scanning the source code.
Ask Your Website Developer
While this may seem like the most obvious thing to do, many website development agencies, for whatever reason, may build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you paid a website developer or got somebody else to build your website, just ask your webmaster or whoever built your web site if your web site has been built with WordPress.
That was simple, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach your webmaster, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while surfing online and you really need to know if it was built with WordPress?
Check Below Footer
If the site uses a WordPress theme and the templates have not been modified, you will often see a “Powered by WordPress” notice showing below the footer section …
(Proudly Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods aren’t helpful to you, here are some other ways of telling whether a website runs on WordPress or not …
Sites That Can Tell You If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Here are a couple of tools that will tell you if your website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WordPress? – WP Site Checking Tool
(Is It WordPress?)
IsItWP.com is a free online tool that can check if a website uses WordPress or not.
Using this tool is really easy. Just enter the URL of the site into the URL field and click the button.
It will then search through the URL and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, which version of WordPress the site is currently using …
If the site has not been built using WordPress, you will see a message similar to the one shown in the screenshot below …
To visit this site, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer
(Wappalyzer – Extension For Firefox & Chrome Browser)
If you use a browser such as Firefox or Chrome and want to be able to tell if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a great add-on to install on your web browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what software is installed in the sites you are visiting.
According to their website …
“Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more.”
It’s also very easy to install.
Once you have installed Wappalyzer, icons will display in your browser allowing you to see which software is being used by all the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon showing on your browser menu (as shown in the screen shot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This website uses WordPress!)
To learn more, go here:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, visit the site below:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, visit the site below:
We hope that you have found the above tutorial useful.
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum